Ryan Lochte was reportedly robbed of his wallet and ID last night in Rio while taking a cab ride to a party. This is courtesy of Fox Sports Australia reporter Ben Way, who said he spoke with Lochte’s mother, Ileana and she confirmed that Lochte was indeed robbed and called her immediately after. The International Olympic Committee is denying any of this happening, despite Lochte’s mom telling the same story to other news outlets as well.
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*UPDATE*
A short time ago, Ryan Lochte himself confirmed everything his mother told the media. He was in fact robbed at gunpoint and spoke of the moment a gun was shoved in his face.
“I was with a couple swimmers, we got pulled over in our taxi and these guys came out with a badge, a police badge,” Lochte said. “No lights, no nothing, just a police badge. They pulled us over. They pulled out their guns.”
He said they told the other swimmers to get down on the ground but he refused.
“I was like ‘we didn’t do anything wrong so I’m not getting down on the ground,'” he said.
That’s when Lochte said one of the men pulled out his gun, cocked it, put it to his forehead, and said “get down.”
“I put my hands up,” Lochte said. “I was like ‘whatever.’ He took our money, he took my wallet.”
The USOC confirmed the athletes were all robbed on their way back to the Olympic village.
The IOC first attempted to deny anything happened before admitting they didn’t know the details of the situation.
*Rest of original story below*
Reached by USA TODAY Sports, Ileana Lochte confirmed a report that Lochte was robbed. She said he was unharmed. He has since returned to the Olympic Village and is fine.
“I think they’re all shaken up. There were a few of them,” Ileana Lochte said. “No, they were just, they just took their wallets and basically that was it.”
She went on to explain that he was with at least one U.S. teammate in a cab heading to meet up with Brazilian swimmer Thiago Pereira when the cab stopped to get gas. She said the group was held up and confronted by people who had guns and knives.
Mark Adams, a spokesman for the IOC, disputed Ileana Lochte’s account Sunday morning, saying that Ryan Lochte and the U.S. Olympic Committee informed him that the story was not true.
All of this is absolutely bizarre. How could the reports be so conflicting? The IOC certainly would want to keep something like this quiet, considering all the drama surrounding the games in Rio in the first place. We will provide details when more become available.
